2 small knives found in Chambersburg student's purse

ANTRIM TOWNSHIP >> A 14-year-old female student at Manito Brown's Mill Center in Antrim Township faces a misdemeanor charge after two small knives were discovered in her purse Friday at the alternative school.

Trooper Cory Blowers of Pennsylvania State Police, Chambersburg, said Manito's program director preferred charges against the student following the discovery.

According to Blowers, the student, a Chambersburg resident, arrived at school about 8:30 a..m. and checked her purse into the office as required. The knives were discovered about 1:30 p.m.

"The school requires students to check their personal belongings to the office and they are returned at the end of the day," Blowers said. "When her purse was being collected for return, the contents were spilled and the knives were found among the make-up and other stuff."

Blowers said the young woman said the knives were in her purse all summer long and she forgot about them when she returned to school last week.

However, Blowers said provisions in state law are "very clear" when it comes to possession of weapons on school property and that Manito officials called for criminal charges to be filed. He described the weapons found in the young woman's purse as a small pocket knife and a small "utility-type" knife.

"They were both very small, nothing like a K-bar or anything like that," Blowers said.

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